


A Promise Made

by Simon_says_fly



Category: DCU, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 16:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5973466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simon_says_fly/pseuds/Simon_says_fly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the best of intentions... </p>
<p>What happens when the happiness of everyone involved is dependent upon the whims of a twelve year old boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Promise Made

Friday  
01/15/2016  
7:43 PM

..oo00O00oo..

Cat was humming. 

Humming!

It took a moment for the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Media’ to realize that the tune was apparently coming from her, and that it came from some childish, teeny pop song that Kara had been humming earlier today at work. Cat racked her brain to see if she could remember what the name of the song was, or even who sang it or when Kara might have heard it, but she was coming up empty. She purposefully stopped as she pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Leave it to her girlfriend of four months to turn her in to some love struck cliché. 

Adjusting the strap of the purse across her shoulder so she could shift the grocery bag full of junk food, Cat nervously starting tapping her foot waiting to reach the penthouse level of her condo where said girlfriend and her son, Carter, would be awaiting her arrival. 

It was Friday, and Friday was Game Night. 

Originally, it had been just the two of them, her and Carter. And there were days, even now, that she still missed having her son all to herself. It had been a way for them to bond after Carter’s father had moved out of the picture. Sure, Nathaniel still loved his son and saw him whenever he could, but it had been difficult for their son to adjust to the change, and so Game Night became their thing. For a while, it had looked as if it was always going to be just them… that was, until Kara entered their lives on a personal level.

Kara away from work was a breath of fresh air. She was the embodiment of sunshine and laughter and, without ever really trying; she had found a way to entice Carter out of his self imposed internal exile. Now, Carter had someone new to interact with. Someone that didn’t talk down to him or make him feel slow or small or anything other than cherished and loved. Carter had found a best friend and Cat; she had found the woman she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

And it had only taken an alien from another planet to make that happen. Cat was in love.

But more than it just being another Game Night, tonight was the night that she and Kara were going to have a talk, ‘the’ talk, with him to let him know that they were dating, had been dating, and then, if things went the way she hoped, they would then consider letting Carter in on Kara’s ‘big’ secret, with a capital “S”.

The ding of the elevator arriving on the highest floor brought Cat out of her musings, as she made her way down the hall towards the loves of her life. She rolled her eyes as she contemplated what she might walk in on, stopping to pick up a few last minutes snacking choices before Game Night could begin. The last time she had been late her kitchen had been a disaster area since Kara had some inane issue with her popcorn maker.

Cat rounded the corner towards her door, and stopped dead as her blood cold. Sitting outside of her apartment, crumpled against its closed door, was Kara bawling her eyes out. The superhero looked absolutely broken. Dropping the bag and letting her purse fall from her arm, Cat moved to kneel down towards the younger woman to offer whatever comfort she could. If Kara realized that Cat was there, she didn’t show it. And other than her shoulders shaking as she cried, she hadn’t acknowledged anything going on around her at all.

“Kara? Baby?” Cat tried softly. “What’s going on? What happened?” Her questions on seemed to make Kara cry harder. “You need to talk to me.”

“Is Carter okay? Kara. You need to talk to me… Did something happen to Carter?”

Kara finally lifted her head, her face blotchy and flushed from crying, and her eyes were heavily bloodshot. She had been crying for a while. 

“He said ‘no’, Cat.” 

Her words took a moment to process. Cat’s brow furrowed in thought as she tried to gleam the meaning behind her girlfriend’s words. As Kara stared in Cat’s eyes, Cat finally understood. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt her heart breaking just as Kara’s must already be. Somehow Kara had already told Carter and her son had said no, that he didn’t want Kara and his mother together. 

“I don’t understand.”

It took Kara several tries as licking her lips to get enough moisture to speak again. After several false starts, Cat continued to rub Kara’s back before she could finally begin, “I-I --I can’t explain it-it. I can’t. H-he came in from, from seeing Nathaniel. He was so excited. He threw his bag in his r-r-room… and he, he came…”

“What, baby? What happened?”

“He started talking about how you and Nate were getting back together.” Her words were getting stronger. “About how his dad had promised to be a family again. And the three of you were going to be happy. A family.”

As the tears continued down the younger woman’s face, Cat rocked back onto her heels as she considered Carter’s announcement. “You know that’s not right…”

“I know, Cat. But he was so sure. I couldn’t help but ask him to explain.”

“And?” Cat prompted.

“A-and I tried explaining that I didn’t think that was right. I wasn’t trying to tell him without you. You know that, right?” After Cat nodded, Kara continued, “But he kept on. I thought that if I told him that it was you and I together, that maybe he’d be happy about that, too. Like we planned…”

“Oh, Kara.”

“He yelled at me, Cat. Carter never yells about anything, but he did. He told me that I was destroying his happiness, his home. I was destroying his dream, Cat. His dream. I told him that that wasn’t true. That I loved him. That I’d do anything for him.”

She paused, the look in her eyes showing none of the life that Cat so loved. “He asked me to promise, Cat. He asked me to promise that I meant everything I’d ever told him. I said that I loved him as if he was my own and that, of course I promise to do everything I could to make him happy. So I promised, Cat. I promised.”

Cat tried to stop her own tears from falling. She knew what was coming. Her heart was breaking… no. It was broken. She knew what Kara was about to say. Cat prayed in that instant to every god, Earthen and Kryptonian, for Kara not to say it. 

“He told me to get out. To never come back. I promised him I’d do whatever it took to make him happy, and he told me to leave, Cat. He told me to leave.”

To almost every other being on the planet… in fact, for literally every other denizen but one that walked Planet Earth, a promise was something that one often tried to keep, but not always. Promises were often tossed around frivolously. To Cat, promises were sincerely made and, if at all possible, were always kept. One’s word was their reputation, and once lost, something almost impossible to ever truly get back. On this Earth, two individuals always kept their word: Kal-El and Kara Zor-El.

It had been a weird for Cat to understand when Kara first told her. Cat had been asking Kara to promise something frivolous, meaningless, and Kara had refused. When she had inquired as to why her girlfriend of a week or so couldn’t make the promise, it had been explained that on Krypton, there was only one word for a vow. While here there were promises and vows and others; bond and oath or pledge. All of them constantly broken. When a Kryptonian gave you their word, it meant everything.

Kara had vowed to make Carter happy, even at the breaking of her own heart… and Cat’s, as well.

“I’m going to be sick.”

..oo00O00oo..

Cat was finally as ready as she ever was going to be to enter her apartment. It had taken over thirty grueling, heart wrenching and painful minutes to get everything out of Kara. They had sat in the hallway of her building, ignoring everything else, as Cat interrogated (for lack of a better word) Kara for every word, every look, anything and everything, to try and make sense of her son’s actions tonight. 

Initially, she had wanted to go in and check on him, or so she told herself, but Kara said he was sleeping on the couch in the den. Apparently, he'd worn himself out after Kara had gone out the door. At Cat's raised eyebrow, Kara had tapped her ear, indicating that even banished from her son's presence, she'd not abandoned him. Cat wasn't sure she'd have given the same consideration if their roles were reversed. 

Once Cat had gotten as much as she could and gotten Kara calm... well, calmer, at least, than when Cat had first arrived, she had asked Kara to come into her home so they could figure out their next move. Kara refused, stating she had made a promise.since her girlfriend was too upset to fly(all they needed was for a visibly upset Supergirl caught on some random amateur photographer with an iPhone and luck to start a tabloid storm worse than when Oliver Queen was accused of being Starling City's vigilante. 

Kara had kissed her before leaving to take the taxi Cat had called for. The kiss had been hard and mingled with both of their tears. She only hoped the kiss hadn't been what it felt like; goodbye. 

She waited until fifteen minutes had passed, long enough for Kara's super-hearing to be out of range before she had called Alex. The DEO agent had answered the phone with a joke, expecting Cat to be looking for some cheat to get back at Kara and her son. That had all changed the moment Cat had let slip an audible sob. 

"What's happened, Cat?"

The authority in her girlfriend's sister's tone, one of the only few that Cat listed to, was almost enough to break her resolve. Almost. But she held out. Instead, she kept to her original purpose. "Kara's going to need you. Alex, don't leave her alone. Please."

The plea had worked. Alex had said something about the conversation not being over, but by then, Cat could breathe a touch easier knowing that Kara wouldn't be alone tonight. 

She reached out to open her door when she noticed her hand was trembling. It took a moment to get the shaking to stop, to firm her resolve. Cat needed to be in control. This was too important.

This was everything.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that fanfics all seem to have Carter excited that Kara and his mom fall in love, but I started to wonder...
> 
> I can remember how badly my younger brother acted when our mother first started seriously dating the man who would later become our stepfather. I once asked my mom what would have happened if my brother and I had objected, and she got a far away look and said it would've broken her heart, but she would have ended things with him.
> 
> This came from that conversation and the nightmares it caused.


End file.
